Valerie Wert and Bjorn Johansson Honored by MAC

April 21 | Track & Field

AKRON - For the second week in a row, junior Valerie Wert was named Mid-American Conference Female Field Athlete of the Week, while sophomore Bjorn Johansson was tabbed MAC Male Field Athlete of the Week for the second time in three weeks.

This past weekend, Wert set an Akron record en route winning the discus at the All-Ohio Championships, while placed second in the hammer. The Lexington native threw the discus 176-1, breaking the previous UA mark of 175-7 set by All-American Stevi Large in May 2008. In addition, Wert's mark in the discus ranks best in the MAC, fourth-best in the NCAA East and seventh-best in the nation overall this season. On the first day of competition at the All-Ohio Championships, Wert was runner-up in the hammer with a throw of 189-1. Earlier this season, Wert threw the hammer 190-8, which is best in the MAC, 12th in the NCAA East and 24th in the nation.

Johansson traveled to California for the Mt. SAC Relays for the highly-competitive decathlon, where 13 of the nation's top 50 point total occurred. While Johansson placed fourth with a point total of 7,432, the mark shattered his previous personal record by 200 points and ranks second on the UA all-time list. In addition, it ranks best in the MAC, fourth-best in the NCAA East and ninth-best in the nation overall. Johansson, who stood in ninth place after day one thanks to a third-place finish in the shot put (47-7.25), made his move on day two, winning the discus with a personal-record throw of 151-4. Next, Johansson dominated the field in the pole vault, clearing 16-8.75 and scoring 941 points - 122 more points than the next-best finisher. In the second-to-last event, Johansson was fourth in the javelin (181-9).

Last week, Wert was honored as she swept both the hammer (189-3) and discus (169-6) titles at the Northeast Ohio Invitational. Johansson was honored April 8 for after placing second in the "B" section of the pole vault at the Texas Relays with a vault of 17-1. The effort ranks fourth-best on the UA all-time list, second-best in the MAC for 2010 behind teammate Mike Uhle, 14th-best in the NCAA East and 26th-best in the nation.

The Zips will travel to opposite coasts this weekend, competing in the Penn Relays (April 22-24) in Philadelphia and the Triton Invitational (April 23-24) in San Diego.

Competing in the Penn Relays will be Niesha Kelly (long and triple jumps); Mike McCall (high jump); Joe McCoy (steeplechase); the 4x100 and 4x200 relay team of Lorenzo Brazzell, Aaron Dobson, Phil Ferguson and Marcus Ferguson; the distance medley relay team of Joe Mummert, James Seale, Willie Brown and Zachary Goulet and the 4x800 relay team of J'Lani Pryce, Mummert, Goulet and Brown.

Competing in the Triton Invitational will be Wert (discus, hammer); Allison Lawyer (discus, shot put); Uhle (pole vault); Eric Hubbard (hammer); Lauren Whitehill (javelin); Keith Huebner (shot put); Carrie Kayes (pole vault); Katherine Lee (pole vault, long jump); Alina Bocicor (high jump); Tyler Sweet (javelin); Dan Garrett (pole vault) and Kenny Owens (pole vault)